The Modern Home
Colour.—II
THE modern tendency in the use of colour, as in all other branches of decoration, is towards simplicity. Instead of a
number of multicoloured materials and surfaces having only the vaguest relationship with one another, we find carefully. thought-out schemes employing perhaps as few as three or
four shades only-1--but employing them in such telling fashion
as to gain the utmost decorative effect. Too many colours are almost inevitably fatal to the coherence of a scheme : the principal exception is where a garden-like riot of colour is aimed at—and to • succeed in this calls for something very like genius. There is a common belief that modern decoration makes use of very vivid colours in quantities calculated to shock the more sober-minded. This is a fallacy. In France, which is perhaps the leading country in interior decoration at present, the most popular colours are the various greys, and shades ranging from beige to tan. With these—usually in small, telling quantities only, we find touches of the primaries and other clean, vivid shades. Absolutely plain surfaces are no longer so omnipresent as they were ; but this does not imply a return to naturalistic or conventional pattern : abstract pattern has taken their place. As this is usually less strongly marked and, therefore, more restful, the change is all to the good.
Since most of us redecorate a good deal more often than we buy new furniture, the possession of the latter must be regarded..as an. important factor in the selection of .a colour scheme. , If the furniture be good, clearly our aim should be to show it off to the best-possible advantage. If the less said about it- the better, we should distract as much attention from it as possible, 'while yet giving it surroundings with which it is in harmony. The best way to achieve this is by providing a background which shall absorb its out- line as much as possible, and then creating points of attraction elsewhere by the use of bright complementary colour.
In this connexion it should be noted that much can be done to subdue furniture that is definitely offensive to modem eyes. A sculptor of my acquaintance was recently embar- rassed by the inheritance of a quantity of enormous Victorian furniture, mostly in virulently varnished yellow oak or portentous' mahogany. It would have -fetched next to nothing in a saleroom—there is a plague of such stuff ; more- over, the actual workmanship was good and the timber itself excellent. First of all, various excrescences, • mouldings, eastellations, knobs and so forth were removed, to the great benefit of its appearance. Then in one or two instances the actual proportions were altered. Finally it was all painted —much of it with an ivory stipple slightly shaded—and modern handles fitted. The result was a number of extremely handsome pieces of furniture, entirely• suited to a modem interior, and nothing that could be said to be definitely unpleasant. But much can be done by less drastic measures. Over-bright polish can be rubbed down with pumice to a satin finish ; stain can be removed to show, the original colour of the wood, which is generally far preferable, and a dressing of white or yellow wax given ; or the wood itself can be bleached, which will often give it a beautiful silvery grey tone. It is astonishing what improvements are possible at little cost, once the decision to take what seems a rather dangerous step is made.
Two points in the decoration of a room which call for discus- sion are the colour of the ceiling and whether or not the picture rail is to be abolished. It may be said at once that, regarded simply as a means of hanging pictures, a rail is far better away: there are more sightly and efficient methods of supporting them than by cutting up the wall surface with straggling cords or chains. But as a device for reducing the height of an over- lofty room it has its uses. In such a case the space between the rail and ceiling should be regarded as part of the latter and treated in exactly the same way. Apart from this one instance, and that of period rooms, which cannot be held to come within the scope of" The Modern Home," there is little to be said for the retention of the-picture rail, and its absence is becoming more and more usual. To have a coloured ceiling is not really so daring a step as many people imagine. In a low room, with walls not too dark in tone, the merging of walls and ceiling has much to commend it—especially if the angle between the two be rounded off. Where a dark colour is used on the walls its repetition on the ceiling will make the room look lower ; Slid if this result is desired the ceiling may be made darker than the walls, or even of some contrasting shade. The effect will be still more marked if a glossy finish be given— but for this the surface must be in perfect condition, as every irregularity will be shown up. Care should be taken to allow for the result of reflection off a coloured ceiling, especially if it be brightly lighted by windows reaching high up the walls. The ceiling is no place for pattern in rooms such as we are discussing. The function of pattern is to provide interest— and one prefers to be interested in some more easily viewed portion of a room.
Much blame for the current nervousness in the use of colour must be -laid on the local decorator. His usual procedure when told to finish a surface to some given colour is to mix up the nearest approximation he can achieve on a piece of glass with a palette knife, and then to apply it first as undercoat and then as finish. In nine cases out of ten the result is heavy and disappointing. Most interesting shades, and almost all pinks and blues, can best be got by stippling over a different coloured undercoat. For instance, if a slightly mauve blue is required, the undercoat should be pink, and over this the finishing coat of blue should be stippled, allowing the faintest hint of the pink to show through. The difference between this colour and one which has been obtained by mixing the pink into the blue must be seen to be realized. Stippling gives depth and a remarkable luminosity to the colour, as the Pointillistes discovered. It should not be confused with " scumbling " where the upper glaze is wiped off the undercoat in various ways, thus giving a much broader effect. In tippling. the grain may be so fine as to be invisible unless closely viewed. Scumbling can be 'partieularly useful on large surfaces where an interesting texture without actual pattern is required. Great Why can be made with contrasts between various finishes 'from glossy, through egg-shell, to matt, as well as with the colours themselves. Really bright colours should usually be finished with a high gloss, in order that _rehef may be provided by reflec- tions. •
And now, to recall a- few outstandingly good colour schemes. It is significant that the least elaborate come 'soonest to mind. Silvery grey paint, palest yellow walls, curtains of jade green, and on the floor a carpet of modernist design in black and white and rust red. The furniture was of unstained walnut, and a settee, almost hidden beneath a zebra skin, had cushions of jade and rust red. Simpler still : floor and Chiors- of oak boards, a natural sheepskin rug or two, walls creamy white, curtains and upholstery .of unbleached linen—all the colour provided by three or four large water- colours and painted vellum shades—but how successful ! Or a room of mahogany furniture : paintwork dark peacock blue, waits stippled ivory over orange, curtains the colours of tortoiseshell. But one cannot convey a decorative 'scheme in words : the infinite range of colours strains the vocabulary even of our milliners. And it is on their exact rightness that the whole effect depends.
The faculty of visualizing colours is not given to all, and the unimaginative- in this respect may sometimes wonder what is the best way to think of a good colour scheme in the first instance: To them I would say that suggestions are to -be picked up everywhere. I have known one—and a good one— suggested by a group of variegated hens pecking about oh a red ploughed field. The Small Bird House at the Zoo is full of daring but always successful schemes. Or, more slimily, one can note a pleasing combination of colours in a book of patterns —cretonnes, wallpapers or what not—and use this as a basis from which towork.,, _
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